For everyone working in Canadian racing, being associated with a King’s Plate winner is a dream come true. Just having a horse competing in Canada’s most prestigious race is very special.
So it is possible the most excited and nervous people at Woodbine on Saturday afternoon will be the five trainers who will have starters in the $1 million race for the first time in their careers.
Earlier this year, Harold Ladouceur was inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. Now the Alberta native has a great chance at a Plate win with Rafaroo, who caught everyone’s attention when finishing second in the Plate Trial after having started just once before. Ladouceur always knew Rafaroo had potential.
“When he was two last year, we knew he was a nice horse,” he said. “He did everything so well and the class he had was unbelievable.”
Ladouceur is also sending out Vitality. It took this gelding seven attempts to find the winner’s circle but after overcoming that obstacle on July 19, he may have the game figured out.
“When he went to the front, it seemed like the doors opened and he just took off,” Ladouceur said. “He’s not an easy horse to get going but once he does, there’s a lot of horse there.”
Krista Cole has been around horses, standardbred, quarter-horse or thoroughbred, her entire life. Now the Prince Edward Island native will enjoy her first Plate as a trainer with Thor’s Cause. Even though the gelding is winless in eight starts, Cole hopes jockey Jeffrey Alderson can tap into the horse’s strong will and carry him home.
“He’s a small horse with a big heart,” Cole said. “He is a horse you know will go out and give his best every time.”
Owner Sue Leslie, whose contributions to local horse racing could take up this entire column, will give trainer Evette Chartrand-Hoek her first Plate starter. Friendly Ghost broke his maiden two starts ago and led for much of the Plate Trial before ending third behind Plate favourite My Boy Prince.
“Like his name says, he is very friendly,” Chartrand-Hoek said of the gelding who is obviously called Casper around the barn. “He has continued to get better and better with each race.”
Zeljko Krcmar, a passionate horseman who has been in the business for nearly 50 years, will send out No More Options for his daughter Mary Self. The colt has three career wins including a score in the Frost King Stakes last year.
“We have had many offers to sell him, but I have held off because I want to see my dad there on the big day,” Self said. “For us, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment. We are so excited.”
Domenic Polsinelli has spent over 40 years training at Woodbine. He sends out Roar of the Crowd, which the gelding may hear coming through the stretch the first time as a sprinter expected to set the early pace. He has a maiden win in four career starts but has not raced past 6 A1/2 furlongs.
“Roar of the Crowd has a three-quarter brother, Pender Harbour, who finished third in the 2011 Plate and went on to have a great career,” Polsinelli said. “I knew the Plate was coming up and we wanted a horse for the race. We decided this was our horse.”